Notes:I can only test the fader (via the tray icon) once - it doesnt work after the first go - this makes it difficult to test custom colours etc.

My taskbar autohides - you say I can right click the tray icon and choose "Exit" from the shortcut menu to get out of "fade" mode - my taskbar menu does not show though while Time Clue is dimming the screen.

I realize this isn't it's purpose, but I could see something like this being particularly useful to parents and gamers to fade in the middle of a game or whatever. The only thing needed to make this work would be to be able to set a specific time for it. Perhaps a different color so one, the other, or both features could be used together? Just some other peripheral ideas to throw out there.

With a notification/warning [1] of some small number of minutes before fading occurs, I think I can prepare to pull away and have an easier time at halting work once fading begins. If I'm in the midst of something that I'm concentrating on, not really aware of the time, and I suddenly have to stop, I find that can be difficult. My guess is that this type of thing is not entirely uncommon, but perhaps not...

BTW, thanks for the "Block fader when a full-screen program is running" option

[1] I'm not sure just sound would always work out here due to not having sound on all of the time...

Notes:I can only test the fader (via the tray icon) once - it doesnt work after the first go - this makes it difficult to test custom colours etc.

My taskbar autohides - you say I can right click the tray icon and choose "Exit" from the shortcut menu to get out of "fade" mode - my taskbar menu does not show though while Time Clue is dimming the screen.

I realize this isn't it's purpose, but I could see something like this being particularly useful to parents and gamers to fade in the middle of a game or whatever. The only thing needed to make this work would be to be able to set a specific time for it. Perhaps a different color so one, the other, or both features could be used together? Just some other peripheral ideas to throw out there.

The options dialog allows you to set the "auto fade interval" and "overlay color". Maybe that's what you need?

With a notification/warning [1] of some small number of minutes before fading occurs, I think I can prepare to pull away and have an easier time at halting work once fading begins. If I'm in the midst of something that I'm concentrating on, not really aware of the time, and I suddenly have to stop, I find that can be difficult. My guess is that this type of thing is not entirely uncommon, but perhaps not...

BTW, thanks for the "Block fader when a full-screen program is running" option

[1] I'm not sure just sound would always work out here due to not having sound on all of the time...

The program is so designed that you never "suddenly have to stop".

Try this:

First set a low Max opacity value (say 40) via Options dialog, then click the program icon to invoke the fader. Now do anything as if the fader is not there.

As to sound alarm: according to my own experience, it can quickly become an annoyance, especially when we're at work. Note that the program is supposed to raise alerts somewhat frequently (for eye resting).

The options dialog allows you to set the "auto fade interval" and "overlay color". Maybe that's what you need?

I was thinking more along the lines of setting a set time of day, such as bedtime, or time to start work. Essentially it becomes an alarm you can't just say "okay, just one more minute" and 30 minutes later "Oh *hit, I am late!". Having the fade interval allows it to recover so you can close down, but the fade, especially during a game, can be killer and make it pointless to the "one more minute" idea. Of course I suppose a valid work around could be to set up a higher frequency fade interval (ever 30 seconds for example) and use a scheduled task to start it up...

Again, I realize this is completely outside of the purpose of this software, I am just thinking outside the box on one way I can see myself using something like this for my kids.

An application with the same purpose I was once using had the following nice feature: the tray icon visually showed how much interval time had passed (or was left, can't remember). Can't remember the resolution either, maybe steps of 10 to 20% interval time (i.e. 5 to 10 different tray images).

An application with the same purpose I was once using had the following nice feature: the tray icon visually showed how much interval time had passed (or was left, can't remember). Can't remember the resolution either, maybe steps of 10 to 20% interval time (i.e. 5 to 10 different tray images).

Notes:[1] I can only test the fader (via the tray icon) once - it doesnt work after the first go - this makes it difficult to test custom colours etc.

[2] My taskbar autohides - you say I can right click the tray icon and choose "Exit" from the shortcut menu to get out of "fade" mode - my taskbar menu does not show though while Time Clue is dimming the screen.

this was sorted per PM, but just in case anyone else was wondering about them:

[1] is now fixed[2] is actually only a problem when doing a test fade - click anywhere on the screen, move cursor to the bottom of screen - the taskbar gets shown